Boris Johnson takes gloves off in Brexit campaign

Boris Johnson launched a visceral attack on the European Union and David Cameron’s renegotiation Monday in a marked ratcheting up of rhetoric in the Brexit referendum campaign.

The former London mayor, who is leading the campaign to take Britain out of the EU, savaged the prime minister’s claim that voting out on June 23 could endanger European peace and leave the U.K. “permanently poorer.”

Earlier in the day, Cameron said that the EU had “helped reconcile” countries and that peace could break down if Britain turned its back on the union.

In a passionate speech in central London, Johnson said Britain would be “mad not to take this once in a lifetime chance” to leave, attacking the federal power of the European Court of Justice over U.K. law, the government’s inability to control migration and the economic failure of the euro.

He said Cameron had “totally failed” to win any concessions from the EU in his renegotiation and should logically be campaigning with him to leave.

The Conservative MP said the EU was anti-democratic and “actively responsible for low growth and in some cases economic despair.”

Johnson’s speech Monday was his first major intervention in the campaign after leaving City Hall following the election of Sadiq Khan as London mayor on Friday.

The strength of Johnson’s attack — singling out the prime minister and Chancellor George Osborne for criticism — sets the scene for 6-1/2 weeks of bitter Conservative Party infighting ahead of the June 23 poll.

In a bizarre twist, Johnson stressed his love of Europe and attempted to demonstrate this by singing Ode to Joy in German.

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Maria Valentina Umer

This clown is a stain in British politics. An Eton boy, all said. Britain´s many problems don´t interest him. . His stunt with Queen on the Olympic games remains as a circus show. I just hope this clown does not get a job in the EU. Bad enough he is a local politician